Brief aan Ary Johannes Lamme Possibly 1861 - 1862

This letter was written in Rotterdam on February 13, 1861, by Francina Louise Schot. It’s made with paper, likely industrially produced, and ink, applied with a precise hand to create a formal script. Think about the labor involved in its creation. Someone had to make the paper, harvest the raw materials, and run the machines. The ink too, was manufactured, bottled, and sold. Schot herself would have had to learn penmanship, a skill taught through rote practice. The act of handwriting, before the age of typewriters and computers, was a craft in itself, requiring patience and discipline. And then there’s the content of the letter, a formal request. The very act of corresponding – putting thoughts into written form and sending them across distances – was itself a kind of labor, one that connected people across social and economic divides. This letter isn't just a message, it's a material artifact of a specific time and place, reflecting the social and economic systems that made it possible.